Cool Test Stand

[AshimotoK0]

I have four of these engine to rebuild so definitely worth lashing something up like this. I think I would graft on standard air filters & exhausts though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MmSirFNtBk&feature=share

[royhall]

That looks like a lot of work for nothing, hardly a dyno. You may as well put the engine in the bike to test it then it's done? It's as easy to take back out the bike frame as off the test stand. I can see the point if he's an engine builder that doesn't have the bike, but other than that, I think I may have missed the point of it all.

[Trigger]

+1 with Roy. The best way to test a engine is in a bike, you can go through all the gears and make sure the clutch is operating 

[JamesH]

Personally I think it's pretty cool...

[AshimotoK0]

-1 on both counts in my case  ... I have four engines that I want to build and test WAY before they will ever go with their respective frames. Plus the  flow monitoring stuff I am building won't fit onto the carbs properly in the frame. Each to their own I suppose.. I won't bother with the gubbins he mounts on the stand though for electrics etc.

[royhall]

The point I was making about it "hardly being a dyno" is simply that on that test stand the engine is running unloaded. As we all know that's asking for disaster, and really not good for a freshly rebuilt engine. For those that don't know, a dyno acts as a brake to load the engine (with the ability to set quantifiable pre loads). Thats where the term Brake Horse Power comes from. The ending to that video is likely to be BANG!

[AshimotoK0]

+1 with Roy. The best way to test a engine is in a bike, you can go through all the gears and make sure the clutch is operating 

So when you rebuild all of your customers engines Graham, how do you test them? Surely you don't just send them back and hope for the best?  BTW I wouldn't be revving the nuts off them just making sure that they tick over fine and the carbs are fully balanced, no excessive rattles/noises etc.

[Trigger]

+1 with Roy. The best way to test a engine is in a bike, you can go through all the gears and make sure the clutch is operating 

So when you rebuild all of your customers engines Graham, how do you test them? Surely you don't just send them back and hope for the best? 

I don't have to hope for the best Ash, I do not doubt my engine building skills.
All the engines I build are meticulously measured and checked, sometimes more than twice, and to spec.
I have had 1 return in 5 years and that was where an ancillary part failed.

[K2-K6]

That's quite a tidy test rig setup,  he gets extra points for having a fire extinguisher also

But I'd also try to convince you that it's the wrong thing to do with a fresh built engine as Trigger and royhall have.

It's that running in period that would concern me. Ideally you'd run the motor to make sure it starts without problems and baseline settings are confirmed as ok. Then straight into reasonable load running to get the rings and bores bedding in properly. You'd be aiming to do this in one chunk if all runs ok as the best route to a good initial procedure.

Otherwise it's better to leave it as built with clean assembly oil etc in place and maybe bagged up to keep the whole thing relatively inert.

My concern with running it first without load like this and then storing it perhaps, is that you start that process and then leave it with fuel,  condensation etc in the bores. Any subsequent corrosion effects are not going to help you at that stage.

As Trigger indicates,  it's normal to build it without any real errors if you are that familiar with a particular unit. If not, you'd probably be best to use a build sheet to sign off all of the build on which you could record dimensions,  settings,  routine and confirmation of all parts properly installed and torqued etc.

[Trigger]

The worst thing you can do with Honda's tight tolerances between the pistons to bore is run on a test bench. As I always advise customers who have had a rebore done by me, is NOT to have the engine running while you muck about with the carbs, get it out in the fresh air to keep it cool.
I know so many people that there engine has sized while on a bench, trying to balance the carbs 

[AshimotoK0]

I take everyone's point and not trying to knock the pro's on here but with 11 bikes in the process of restoration, the reality is that at 63 I am  unlikely to ever have most of them (or any of them according to some people on here) on the road for enough miles to significantly run them in to any degree. BUT I would like to think that one day someone will own them and put at least a couple of them through their paces... and good luck to them if they do. I am only an amateur not a pro and everyone makes mistakes, so I would like to convince myself that they are built,  set up and tested to the best of my ability, which to me means running them up for a short period and then treating them  as you would any bike that's put into storage (as covered in many post on here). I recently stripped the top end on my CX500B that was simply left abandoned in a VERY damp (eventually almost roofless) shed for over 35 years after only covering 300 miles. Despite scare stories that the barrel liners would be rusted through to the alloy they were actually in perfect condition. The owner had obviously not put it into that shed with any protection for long term storage as the tank was 3/4 full of stale fuel and there was absolutely zero corrosion protection applied anywhere on the outside of the bike. Therefore, I reckon that running an engine at low revs for an absolute  minimum period unloaded, just to check for anything untoward/set up the carbs /timing etc and then treating it  for long term storage, would only do absolutely minimum harm, if any. Or am I missing the point somewhere? I hear stories that Honda never ran the engines up with fuel before being shipped but contrary to that, you see factory videos of the bikes in the factory being tested on a rolling road. Realistically, how many of us on here who have lots of resto's on the go will ever bed in their rebuilt engines properly?

[K2-K6]

I can see your dilemma Ash,  we are of course all talking about an ideal preparation for a good basis of running an engine to longer term and excluding the logistics you have.

Something you said about the CX,  I think that 300 miles it's done is ideal preparation for the bores and rings. Out of interest if you've got it apart,  you can wipe dry cotton wool down the bore surface and do the same to a newly honed bore if you have one which should show the difference of what just that mileage achieves. It should hang up and stick to new but pass over the conditioned bore without hooking onto it,  more or less.

I guess a rolling road with proper cooling fans would be a middle ground choice to run up and check a whole bike build and installation.